The commentary highlights how practices like throwing back large and female lobsters in Maine have allowed the fishery to flourish as temperatures have warmed. While “conserving large individuals isn’t yet common in fisheries management, more widespread use of the management approach could be an important climate adaptation strategy,” helping the fishery into the future, explained Pinsky.

A lack of those conservation measures have contributed to a large drop in the fishery in southern New England, although there is “overall good news for lobster and the way it has been managed in Maine,” he added.